INTAKT RECORDS – REVIEWS

ANNA WEBBER
SHIMMER WINCE

Intakt CD 407 / 2023

Cover Web:ANNA WEBBER. SHIMMER WINCE. Intakt CD 407

 

On Shimmer Wince, composer, saxophonist and flautist Anna Webber makes an inspired foray into the world of just intonation.

Stewart Smith, The Wire Magazine UK, September 2023 (EN)


Ain’t nothin’ Lowdown Brown can’t do on his debut. Cat’s 70, kickin’ ass, playing the blues, struttin’ some soul, and with the help of producer/drummer Ardie Dean, guitarist Microwave Galaher, bassist Tony Grady, and keyboardist Dan Hochter, admits Blues Is Calling Me (Music Maker Foundation). Born in Arkansas, raised in Indiana, and settled in Texas, it’s been four decades of roadside honky-tonks before blowin’ ‘em away at the Houston Blues Festival in 1988.

Mike Greenblatt, The Aquarian, Oct 11, 2023 (EN)


For a long time, “academic” has been an epithet in the jazz community, referring to music that lacks spontaneity and fire. But Caroline Davis and Anna Webber, two saxophonists and composers with deep roots in academia, rebut that negative stereotype. Both make recordings built around concepts—and Ms. Webber in particular dotes on arcane theories and approaches—yet their music is engrossing and invigorating. Each has a new album out this month—Ms. Davis’s “Captivity” (Ropeadope, out now) and Ms. Webber’s “Shimmer Wince” (Intakt, Oct. 20)—that bristles with fervor and urgency.

Martin Johnson, The Wall Street Journal, Oct 18 2023 (EN)


Flecistka, saksofonistka i kompozytorka Anna Webber jest centralną postacią nowojorskiej sceny jazzowej i uważana jest za jedną z najbardziej innowacyjnych artystek młodego pokolenia. Jej dotychczasowa twórczość została okrzyknięta „wizjonerską i fascynującą”. Saksofonistka doskonale odnajduje się na styku awangardowego jazzu i nowej muzyki klasycznej, a jej poprzednie albumy zajmowały czołowe miejsca na listach najlepszych albumów jazzowych (NPR Jazz Critics Poll i New York Times). W 2021 roku Anna Webber została stypendystką Berlin Prize Fellow i wybrana najlepszą flecistką (kategoria Rising Star) magazynu Downbeat Critic Poll 2020. Autorskimi kompozycjami doskonale wtapia się w świat muzyki improwizowanej i współczesnej kompozycji klasycznej. Flecistka i saksofonistka doskonale dobiera muzyków, którzy precyzyjnie realizują jej artystyczne koncepcje. Wraz z trębaczem Adamem O’Farrillem, wiolonczelistką Mariel Roberts, perkusistą Lesley Mok i klawiszowcem Eliasem Stemesederem przygotowali sesję „Shimmer Wince” skupiając się na innowacyjnym głosie amerykańskiej sceny improwizowanej i jazzowej. Muzyka eksploruje zastosowania nowych koncepcji oraz intonacji w kontekście jazzowym/improwizowanym. Muzycy kwintetu określają to jako „Just Intonation”, upatrując podobieństw w starożytnym systemie strojenia opartym na naturalnych harmoniach i rezonansach nut.

Dionizy Piątkowski, ERA JAZZU, Oct 2023 (PL)


Flutist, saxophonist, and composer Anna Webber has made some of the most fascinating music of the last few years. Binary, Clockwise, Rectangles, and Idiom, all released between 2016 and 2021, are works that start with a strictly enforced set of compositional or performance parameters, but gradually make that seem less and less important as the music takes on a life that has nothing to do with the rules set up to govern its existence.

Phil Freeman, Stereogum, October 19 2023 (EN)


2021 steckte die Tenorsaxophonistin, Flötistin und Komponistin ANNA WEBBER als Fellow an der American Academy in Berlin bis über beide Ohren mit in den Corona-Troubles. Doch sie nutzte die Widrigkeiten für intensive Überlegungen über Polyrhythmik und Tonintervalle und entwickelte ein intensives Interesse an Just Intonation als Möglichkeit, ihre eigene Musik zu gestalten.

Rigobert Dittmann, Bad Alchemy Newsletter, October 2023 (DE)


Some mechanical wristwatches have clear faces which allow the owner to observe the inner workings of the marvelous object. It is a wonder just how the timepiece utilizes its mainspring and gear train to drive the harmonic oscillator which keeps near perfect time. The same can be said of composer, saxophonist and flautist Anna Webber's investigation into unique tunings using the overtone series known as Just Intonation (JI). It is an ancient system based on the natural vibration of physical objects. Modern practitioners range from Harry Partch to the experimental rock quartet Horse Lords. It might take an advanced degree to explain the inner workings of pitch, rhythm, multi-phonic frequencies, intervallic ratios, and the subdivision of octaves. This music just works, and works perfectly on many levels.

Mark Corroto, All About Jazz, October 31 2023 (EN)


When musicians who have come up through Western musical systems embrace “just intonation” (the more mathematically consistent system that was replaced by standard “equal temperament” in the 18th century), they may inject an element of cultural and/or moral critique into their work. Composer Lou Harrison, for example, held that equal temperament “destroys everything and is not for the human ear.”

Bill Meyer, Magnet Magazine, October 27 2023 (EN)


When musicians who have come up through Western musical systems embrace “just intonation” (the more mathematically consistent system that was replaced by standard “equal temperament” in the 18th century), they may inject an element of cultural and/or moral critique into their work. Composer Lou Harrison, for example, held that equal temperament “destroys everything and is not for the human ear.”

Christoph Wagner Music, October 2023 Germany (DE)


Ana Webber (Vancouver, 1984), sassofoni sta/flautista, dopo aver inciso per diverse importanti etichette (Pi, Pirouet, Greenleaf...) approda alla sempre stimolante Intakt con Shimmer Wince. Lo fa in quintetto, con Adam OFarrill alla tromba, Mariel Roberts al violon-cello, Elias Stemeseder al sintetizzatore, Lesley Mok alla batteria. Formazione tutto sommato ormai ortodossa, che potrebbe far immaginare perfino una qualche forma di fusion.

Claudio Sessa, Corriere Della Sera, Italy, October 2023 (IT)


I have long been an ardent admirer of reedist and composer Anna Webber, one of the most ceaselessly inquisitive and restless figures in improvised music over the last decade. She has routinely looked beyond jazz for inspiration, repeatedly striking gold with her research into contemporary music. I’ve loved just about everything she’s done, but her 2019 album Clockwise (Pi) convinced me that she was a major figure: that rare breed that’s actually changing the way I take in sound and potentially altering the trajectory of creative music. On that septet album she isolated specific ideas gleaned from composers like Xenakis, Cage, Varese, Feldman, Stockhausen and Babbitt, triangulating those concepts within her own compositional voice to produce one of the decade’s best recordings.

Peter Margasak, Nowhere Street, November 27 2023 (EN)


I have long been an ardent admirer of reedist and composer Anna Webber, one of the most ceaselessly inquisitive and restless figures in improvised music over the last decade. She has routinely looked beyond jazz for inspiration, repeatedly striking gold with her research into contemporary music. I’ve loved just about everything she’s done, but her 2019 album Clockwise (Pi) convinced me that she was a major figure: that rare breed that’s actually changing the way I take in sound and potentially altering the trajectory of creative music. On that septet album she isolated specific ideas gleaned from composers like Xenakis, Cage, Varese, Feldman, Stockhausen and Babbitt, triangulating those concepts within her own compositional voice to produce one of the decade’s best recordings.

Paul Medrano, Best of 2023, bestofjazz.org, November 2023 (EN)


Anna Webber geeft haar eigen interpretatie van JI (Just Intonation), een methode van stemmen (“tuning”) gebaseerd op onder meer elementen als intervallen, “pitches”, natuurlijke harmonieën en de resonantie van noten.

Georges Tonla Briquet, Jazz'halo, November 2023 (DE)


On Shimmer Wince, composer, saxophonist and flautist Anna Webber makes an inspired foray into the world of just intonation.

Stewart Smith, The Wire Magazine UK, Nov 2023 (EN)


Anna Webber's prior two albums, Idiom and Clockwise, did a great deal to highlight the tenor saxophonist/flutist's idiosyncratic compositions. The pieces on the former were built on specific extended techniques utilized by woodwind players, while the latter took inspiration from percussion compositions by 20th century composers such as Stockhausen. If anything was lacking in either these strong releases, it was the chance to hear Webber the tenor saxophonist stretch out. Her performances usually placed her within an ensemble, not at the toretront and even there, her tenor was often put aside in favor of flute or bass flute. Both these newer releases rectify that situation and offer more saxophone moments while additionally emphasizing new approaches to composition.

Mike Shanley, The New York City Jazz Record, November 2023 (EN)


MAGNET’s Bill Meyer picks the best jazz/improv releases of the year

Best Of 2023, Bill Meyer, Magnet Magazine, 11 December 2023 (EN)


Webber’s conceptual underpinning on Shimmer Wince – the integration of concepts of Just Intonation into the improvised music context – is a fairly esoteric one. Conceptual works sometimes risk alienating those ignorant of their theoretical underpinnings. But Shimmer Wince is imminently approachable. A casual listener, unaware of the album’s backstory, could point out that something sounds a little “off” but would not be fully turned off by its eccentricity. In part, the relatability of the album derives from the leader’s choice not to fully abandon equal temperament in favor of just intonation but to marry the two. The result is a thought-provoking work that isn’t afraid to groove, albeit over minimalist-influenced ground.

Rob Shepherd’s Favorite Albums Of 2023, PostGenre Media, December 07 2023 (EN)


Best of 2023, The New York City Jazz Record, December 2023 USA (EN)

Best of 2023, The New York City Jazz Record, December 2023 USA (EN)


Anna Webber continues demonstrating fascinating ways to meld ideas from contemporary music within an expansive conception of jazz, consistently developing some of the most rewarding and distinctive musical collisions of the last half-decade. I got to hear Shimmer Wince in Chicago back in April, and the quintet’s self-titled debut only reinforced the stunning music I heard then. Webber spent a season during the pandemic in Berlin studying just intonation, but over time she realized its greatest use would come as a tool within a larger context, which just happened to become the strongest, most human, and enjoyable music she’s ever created. Her writing is exquisite, with beautiful melodies nimbly arranged for a fantastic band—trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, cellist Mariel Roberts, drummer Lesley Mok, and keyboardist Elias Stemeseder—that manipulated buoyant post-bop tunes with intervals derived from polyrhythms used in the material. It takes some adjustment on the part of the listener, getting used to the JI elements, but it’s a worthwhile effort because I don’t know of another record of such exponential delight and rigor. I mean, I haven’t said a thing about the fantastic improvising all across the album. It’s there, but so are a lot of other utterly compelling things.

My Favorite Albums of 2023, Peter Margasak, Nowhere Street Blog, USA, January 03 2024 (EN)


Die Anna Webber hat's echt raus, unkonventionelle Sounds ziemlich cool klingen zu lassen.

Kay Friedrichs, Klenkes Magazine (Aachener Zeitung), Germany, January 2024 (DE)


Top Ten Recordings 2023 by Ken Weiss, Cadence Magazine, USA, January 2024 (EN)

Top Ten Recordings 2023 by Ken Weiss, Cadence Magazine, USA, January 2024 (EN)


Musik ist Klang und Musik bewegt sich über Spannungen, die sich auflösen können, voran. Der Saxophonstin, Flötistin und Komponistin Anna Webber gelingt ein spannender Einstieg in ihre aktuelle CD, die über lange Noten Klangflächen aufbaut, bevor sich diese in Improvisationslinien auflösen.

Angela Ballhorn, Jazz N'More Magazine, Switzerland, January 2024 (DE)


There is often an underlying rigor to the work of Canadian reedwoman Anna Webber, be that the digital world inspirations of Binary or the multiphonic intervals which fueled Idiom. On Shimmer Wince, she derives her material from her study of Just Intonation. But really the source pales into insignificance when set aside the dizzying result, rammed with absorbing writing, unpredictable digressions and excellent individual contributions.

John Sharpe's Best Jazz Albums Of 2023, All About Jazz, December 27 2023 (EN)


Well, it looks like we survived January. And what have we got to show for it? I'll tell you — some of the finest new jazz releases around! If you're not impressed by frequent mentionee Ingrid Laubrock's Monochromesi, we suggest you try Emil Ingmar's new celestially-inspired album Pleiades. How about some sultry vocals from Mette Juul on Celeste or Here It Is, the latest scorcher from Charles Owen? You could even run wild with Reinhardt Winkler on Drop Me Off. The sky really is the limits!

Barney Whittaker, Presto Music, January 19 2024 (EN)


beherrschen, damit sie nicht angestrengt und verkopft, sondern völlig entspannt und selbstverständlich klingt. Christoph Wagner: Wie haben Sie sich in dieses alternative Tonsystem eingearbei-tet? Anna Webber: Ich habe zuerst viel Musik in reiner Stimmung gehört: Kompositionen neuer E-Musik. Auch streift man die reine Stimmung, wenn man beim Saxofon mit falschen

Christoph Wagner, Jazzthetik Magazine, February 01 2024 (DE)


Christoph Wagner's Best of 2023

Christoph Wagner's Best of 2023, Jazzthetik Magazine, December 2023 (DE)


Canadian saxophonist, flutist, and composer Anna Webber is a rising figure in the New York scene, having worked with such luminaries as Dave Douglas, John Hollenbeck, and Matt Mitchell. Considered one of the most innovative musicians of a younger generation, since 2010 Webber has recorded over a dozen sessions as a leader or co-leader, in groups ranging from trios to big bands. Her new album, Shimmer Wince, features some impressive new voices, including trumpeter Adam O’Farrill, cellist Mariel Roberts, drummer Lesley Mok, and pianist Elias Stemeseder, who plays synthesizer exclusively here.

Michael Rosenstein, Point of Departure, March 2024 (EN)


 

 

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